Massachusetts Government Structure

The government of the Commonwealth
is divided into three branches: the Executive branch, the bicameral Legislature
consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate and the Judiciary.

Executive Branch

Chief Elected Positions

Governor

The Governor is the chief executive officer of the
Commonwealth.

Lieutenant Governor

The Lieutenant Governor is elected along with the Governor.
The two work closely together to address important day to day administrative
functions of the Commonwealth.

Executive Council

Also referred to as the “Governor’s Council,” this body consists
of eight members who are elected to two-year terms in even-numbered years. The
Executive Council is responsible for the confirmation of certain gubernatorial
appointments, particularly judges, and must approve all warrants (other than
for debt service) prepared by the Comptroller for payment by the State
Treasurer.

Appointed Positions

Governor’s Cabinet

The Governor’s Cabinet is comprised of eight gubernatorial
appointees who assist the Governor in administration and policy making. Each cabinet
secretary serves as the chief executive of their respective executive office.

The eight Cabinet
Secretariats are:

Executive Office for Administration and Finance;

Executive Office of Education;

Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs;

Executive Office of Health and Human Services;

Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development;

Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development;

Executive Office of Public Safety and Security; and

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Secretary of Administration and Finance

The Secretary of Administration and Finance is the Governor’s
chief fiscal officer. The activities of the Executive Office for Administration
and Finance fall within six broad categories:

Administrative and fiscal supervision, primarily the
implementation of the Commonwealth’s annual budget and monitoring of all agency
expenditures during the fiscal year in accordance with published long-term
fiscal policies;

State tax law enforcement and collection of tax revenues through
the Department of Revenue for remittance to the State Treasurer;

Human resource management, the administration of the state
personnel system, civil service system and employee benefit programs and
negotiation of collective bargaining agreements with certain members of the
Commonwealth’s public employee unions;

Capital facilities management, coordination and oversight of the
construction, management and leasing of all state facilities;

State 5-year capital plan development and implementation,
including state debt affordability policies; and

General government administration, including operational services
and information technology services.

Secretary of Education

The Secretary of
Education directs the Executive Office of Education and works closely with the
Commonwealth’s education agencies – Department of Early Education and Care,
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Higher
Education and the University of Massachusetts system - while serving as a
voting member of the governing board of all four education agencies. The
Secretary is the Governor’s top advisor on education and helps shape the
Commonwealth’s education reform agenda, including closing the achievement gap.

Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs

The Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs manages
the only state Cabinet-level office in the country that oversees both
environmental and energy agencies. The Secretary develops and implements
policies that safeguard public health from environmental threats, preserve the
natural resources of the Commonwealth and ensure affordable and clean energy
across Massachusetts.

Secretary of Health and Human Services

The Secretary of Health and Human Services administers the
largest secretariat of the Commonwealth and works to achieve the highest levels
of health and well-being for all residents of Massachusetts. As the Governor’s
top health care advisor, the Secretary plays an intricate role in developing
health care cost containment strategies.

Secretary of Housing and Economic Development

The Secretary of
Housing and Economic Development is the Governor’s chief economic development
and housing advisor and cabinet member, and is responsible for helping achieve
the Governor’s top priorities, including strengthening and accelerating our
economic recovery by supporting job creation in every region of the state. The
Secretary oversees the Commonwealth’s business development, housing and
community development and consumer affairs agencies.

Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development

The Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development enhances the
quality, diversity and stability of the Commonwealth's workforce. This is done
through workforce training, providing temporary assistance when employment is
interrupted and promoting labor-management partnerships. The Secretary also manages the Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy and
Employee Misclassification, working with state officials across state
government to combat workplace fraud and protect exploited workers.

Secretary of Public Safety and Security

The Secretary of
Public Safety and Security is responsible for the policy development and
budgetary oversight of secretariat agencies, independent programs and several
boards which aid in crime prevention, homeland security preparedness, youth
violence prevention and ensuring the safety of residents and visitors in the
Commonwealth.

Secretary of Transportation

The Secretary of Transportation leads an organization that
operates with a single mission: to provide a safe, reliable and efficient
transportation network for residents of the Commonwealth. The Secretary chairs
a five-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor with expertise in
transportation, finance and engineering, and oversees four divisions: Highway,
Mass Transit, Aeronautics and the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV).

State Comptroller

The State Comptroller is responsible for administering and
ensuring lawful and reasoned accounting policies and practices. Among the
Comptroller’s responsibilities are the publication of official financial
reports, the management of the state accounting system and the oversight of
fiscal management functions within all state agencies and departments. The
Comptroller is appointed by the Governor for a term coterminous with the
Governor’s and may be removed by the Governor only for just cause.

The annual financial reports of the Commonwealth, single
audit reports and any rules and regulations published by the Comptroller must
be reviewed by an advisory board. This board is chaired by the Secretary of
Administration and Finance and includes the State Treasurer, the Attorney
General, the State Auditor, the Chief Administrative Justice of the Trial Court
and two persons with relevant experience appointed by the Governor for three-year
terms. The Commonwealth’s audited annual reports include financial statements
on both the statutory basis of accounting (the Statutory Basis Financial
Report, or SBFR) and the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis
(the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR).

Elected Constitutional Officers

Treasurer and Receiver-General

More commonly referred to as the State Treasurer, this
individual has four primary statutory responsibilities:

Collection of all state revenues, with the exception of
agency-held funds;

Management of both short-term and long-term investments of
Commonwealth funds (excluding state employee and teacher pension funds),
including all cash receipts;

Disbursement of Commonwealth monies and oversight of reconciliation
of the state’s accounts; and

Issuance of almost all debt obligations of the Commonwealth,
including notes, commercial paper and long-term bonds.

In addition to these responsibilities, the State Treasurer
serves as Chairperson of the Massachusetts Lottery Commission, the State Board of
Retirement, the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, the Massachusetts
Water Pollution Abatement Trust and the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
The State Treasurer also serves as a member of numerous other state boards and
commissions, including the Municipal Finance Oversight Board.

Secretary of the Commonwealth

The Secretary of the Commonwealth, commonly referred to as
the Secretary of State, is responsible for collection and storage of public
records and archives, securities regulation, state elections, administration of
state lobbying laws and custody of the seal of the Commonwealth.

Attorney General

The Attorney General is the chief
lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The
Attorney General represents the Commonwealth in all legal proceedings in both
the state and federal courts, including defending the Commonwealth in actions
in which a state law or executive action is challenged. The office also brings
actions to enforce environmental and consumer protection statutes, among
others, and represents the Commonwealth in public utility and automobile
rate-setting procedures. The Attorney General works in conjunction with the
general counsels of the various state agencies and executive departments to
coordinate and monitor all pending litigation.

State Auditor

The State Auditor provides independent and objective
evaluations of the Commonwealth’s financial and operational activities. The
State Auditor is charged with improving the efficiency of state government by
auditing the administration and expenditure of public funds and reporting the
findings to the public. The State Auditor reviews the activities and operations
of approximately 750 state entities and verifies contract compliance of private
vendors doing business with the Commonwealth.

District Attorneys

The 11 elected Massachusetts District Attorneys and their
combined staffs of 1,500 employees, including 700 prosecutors and 250
victim-witness advocates, are responsible for prosecuting approximately 300,000
cases annually.

State Sheriffs

The 14 elected Massachusetts State Sheriffs have various
county-based responsibilities, including law enforcement, the care and custody
of inmates and detainees, judicial services, transportation of prisoners,
recidivism, officer training and inmate reentry programming.

Legislative Branch

The Legislature (officially called the General Court) is the
bicameral legislative body of the Commonwealth, consisting of a 40-member Senate
and a 160-member House of Representatives. Members of the Senate and the House
are elected to two-year terms in even-numbered years. Each General Court meets
for a two-year period. January of 2013 marked the start of the 188th
General Court, which runs through January of 2015. The joint rules of the
House and Senate require all formal business to be concluded by the end of July
in even-numbered years and by the third Wednesday in November in odd-numbered
years. The two legislative branches work concurrently on pending laws brought
before them.

Lawmaking begins in the House or Senate Clerk's office where
petitions, accompanied by bills, resolves, etc., are filed and recorded in a
docket book. The clerks number the bills and assign them to appropriate joint
committees. There are over 20 of these committees, each responsible for
studying the bills which pertain to a specific area (i.e., taxation, education,
health care, insurance, etc.), and each committee is composed of senators and representatives.

The standing committees schedule public hearings for the
individual bills, which afford residents, legislators and lobbyists the
opportunity to express their views. Committee members meet at a later time in
executive session to review the public testimony and discuss the merits of each
bill before making their recommendations to the full membership of the House or
Senate. The committee then issues its report, recommending that a bill "ought to pass",
"ought not to pass"
or "as changed"
and the report is submitted to the Clerk's office.

All legislation proposing an increase in taxes or a new tax
must originate within the House of Representatives. Once a tax bill is
originated by the House and forwarded to the Senate for consideration, the
Senate may amend it. All bills are presented to the Governor for approval or
veto. The Legislature may override the Governor’s veto of any bill by a
two-thirds vote of each house. The Governor also has the power to return a bill
to the chamber of the Legislature in which it was originated with a
recommendation that certain amendments be made. Such a bill is then brought before
the Legislature and is subject to amendment or re-enactment, at which point the
Governor may still veto the bill but has no further right to return the bill
with a recommendation to amend.

Judicial Branch

The judicial branch of state government is composed of the
Supreme Judicial Court, the Appeals Court and the Trial Court. The Supreme Judicial Court has original jurisdiction over certain cases and hears appeals from
both the Appeals Court, which is an intermediate appellate court, and in some
cases, directly from the Trial Court. The Supreme Judicial Court is authorized
to render advisory opinions on certain questions of law to the Governor, the
Legislature and the Governor’s Council. Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court,
the Appeals Court and the Trial Court are appointed by the Governor, with the
advice and consent of the Governor’s Council, to serve until the mandatory
retirement age of 70 years.

Independent Authorities and Agencies

The Legislature has established a number of independent
authorities and quasi-public agencies within the Commonwealth, the budgets of
which are not included in the Commonwealth’s annual budget. These include the Commonwealth
Connector Authority, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA),
Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), individual Regional Transit
Authorities and other entities. Budgetary information can be requested directly
from these agencies.

Local Government

All territory in the Commonwealth lies within one of the 351
incorporated cities and towns that exercise the functions of local government,
which include public safety, fire protection and public construction. Cities
and towns or established regional school districts provide elementary and
secondary education. In addition to schools, various local and regional
districts administer water, wastewater and certain other governmental
functions. Cities are governed by one of many nuanced variations of the
mayor-and-council or manager-and-council form. Most towns place executive power
in a board of three or five selectmen elected to one or three-year terms, and
they retain legislative powers in the voters themselves, who assemble in
periodic open or representative town meetings.

Municipal revenues consist of taxes on real and personal
property, distributions from the Commonwealth under a variety of programs and
formulas, local receipts (including motor vehicle excise taxes, local option
taxes, fines, licenses and permits, charges for utility and other services and
investment income) and appropriations from other available funds (including
general and dedicated reserve funds). Because property tax levies are limited
by Proposition 2½, an initiative petition approved by the voters in 1980, local
governments have become increasingly reliant on distribution of revenues from
the Commonwealth to support local programs and services (commonly known as
“local aid”). The amount of local aid varies significantly among
municipalities.

The cities and towns of the Commonwealth are organized into
14 counties; county government has been abolished in seven of those counties.
The county governments that remain are responsible principally for the
operation of courthouses and registries of deeds. Where county government has
been abolished, the functions, duties and responsibilities of the government
have been transferred to the Commonwealth, including all employees, assets,
valid liabilities and debts.

Organizational Chart

The organizational chart identifies the present
structure of state government and its constituent agencies.